Sean MacStiofain

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Alternative Title:
John Edward Drayton Stephenson

Sean MacStiofain, (John Edward Drayton Stephenson), British-born Irish militant (born Feb. 17, 1928, London, Eng.—died May 17, 2001, Navan, County Meath, Ire.), was the first chief of staff of the Provisional Irish Republican Army after the hard-line militarist wing’s split from the Official IRA in 1969. Originally drawn to the Irish republican cause by his Belfast, N.Ire.-born mother, he joined the IRA in his 20s and later changed his name. As the leader of the Provos, he advocated implacable violent resistance to British rule in Northern Ireland and was credited with waging a terrorist campaign, including at least one fatal bombing. In 1973, however, after an unsuccessful hunger strike while in prison, he was ousted from his post. MacStiofain, who published Memoirs of a Revolutionary in 1975, never fully recovered from a stroke he suffered in the mid-1980s.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Karen Sparks, Director and Editor, Britannica Book of the Year.